Weekend Job Roll: 27th March

It’s as though the recruitment agencies went on holiday for a week then came back on Monday and played catch-up. Here’s a round-up of this week’s tasty job morsels.

Syngenta are looking for a process chemist to be responsible for the chemistry carried out at one of their plants in Grangemouth. The role will involve improving processes and ensuring plant HSE compliance. Experience of scale-up, plant establishment and manufacture required, with ability to manage a team. £32k.

Alternatively, Rhodia are seeking a process supervisor in Oldbury (Midlands). Responsibilities include managing plant operators and developing the plant assets and process. Chemistry or chemical engineering background with a few years manufacturing experience would be desirable. £30-38k.

Imperial Innovations are recruiting a market research analyst to examine the commercial viability of inventions and evaluate the market for emerging technologies. This involves primary and secondary research, turning information into intelligence, and communicating this in reports and recommendations. Would suit a science graduate with related experience, an interest in emerging technologies and good communication skills. Desirable skills include a higher degree, experience with patents and an entrepreneurial attitude. £30-40k.

A 12-month opportunity is available for a PRINCE 2-qualified project manager with previous budgetary control. A CRO in Swindon is looking for someone with over 3 years’ experience in product development and/or project management in the pharmaceutical development industry. £30-40k.

Do you have experience with catalysts used in fuel emissions (and don’t need to refer to Wikipedia to find out that three way catalysts reduce NOx, as well as oxidising CO and unburnt hydrocarbons)? If so, a company with a small R&D team in Manchester is offering £25-35k for you and your PhD or industrial experience to be a catalyst development chemist.

Pot luck job of the week: Personal care manufacturer in Lancashire seeks organic chemist with PhD - £27k. What do you mean, you want more details?

Finally, a couple of positions advertised in January and February appear to be open again. First, a PhD chemist is required to become a senior technical assistant in Cambridge – designing and preparing monomers, polymers and small molecules to improve pOLED performance for use in display technologies. Second, a CRO is recruiting a research chemist in the Midlands to work in medicinal chemistry. £23-30k.

LabMonkey4Hire makes it into print!

It’s been a happy week for LabMonkey, with coverage in the hallowed pages of Nature Chemistry for the “What do chemistry graduates do?” series of posts. You can read their Blogroll section at Nature Chemistry 3, 265 (2011) here, or on the Sceptical Chymist blog. Thank you, and glad you liked it!

State-sponsored research: Best of the rest

In a series that has begun to stretch the boundaries of “state-sponsored” and “research”, here are a few more companies primarily funded by the taxpayer that have civil service perks and may hold scientific interest.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) - an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - are the official government body responsible for granting IP rights in the UK. No vacancies at present, but a typical role is that of a patent examiner (1^st or 2^nd class degree) , or a “specialist”. Their HQ is in Newport (S Wales), and they have a small office in London. The 2009/10 annual report indicates that the IPO has ~900 employees.

The Defence Engineering and Science Group (DESG) is a virtual community of 9000 engineers and scientists, working within the MoD Civil Service to “equip and support UK Armed Forces with state of the art technology.” Recruitment is via a 2-year graduate scheme, sponsorship schemes during university, or through the Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College – these were most recently open Oct-Jan. Graduates with a 2:2 or above in engineering, IT, maths and physics are preferred. Graduate salary in 2010 was £24k, rising to £29k on completion of the scheme.

The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) – an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) – carries out advisory, research and monitoring services of the marine environment and fisheries. While there are currently no vacancies for external candidates, a wide range of scientific positions have been advertised in the last year, including for analytical chemists, analytical research chemists, and a chemical hazard assessor. Their 550 employees are largely based in Lowestoft (Suffolk) and Weymouth (Dorset)

The Animal Health Agency – an executive agency of DEFRA – was merged with the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) in 2010, and has around 1700 employees. Their wide-ranging duties include animal welfare, food safety and disease prevention and control. No jobs are available at present, but the VLA formerly advertised scientific roles of a veterinary/biology persuasion - a “relevant scientific or mathematical” degree or training was required.

The Food and Environment Research Agency (fera) – another executive agency of DEFRA – exists to “support and develop a sustainable food chain, a healthy natural environment, and to protect the global community from biological and chemical risks.” It employs 550 scientists across 40 sites, and funds PhD studentships. Their research and science programme may hold some interest for chemists (including chemical safety and profiling), but no jobs are currently available.

So in summary - while some organisations (The Met Office, AWE and DSTL) are still advertising jobs externally, the remainder are only seeking internal (civil service) candidates, if at all. This is likely due to the civil service recruitment freeze put in place last May, and recently extended this month. It looks like this could be another avenue of scientific recruitment that is being closed off, so if it appeals then get in quick!